Fox Pulls An NBC, May Bring Back ’24’

Late yesterday, Fox not only finally pulled the trigger and cancelled Keifer Sutherland’s Touch, which had dropped to CW-like ratings on Friday, but the network also entered into negotiations, apparently, with Sutherland to bring back his old series, 24. I’m not sure how that series ended — I quit after the first few seasons after the absurdities had piled too high to accept it as anything other than sci-fi — but I can’t imagine a return would be any less preposterous than the series already was. In fact, though it’s a move that’s easy to laugh off, given the current state of network dramas, 24 could immediately become one of the better ones on network television upon its return.

Still, it’s early yet in the negotiations, and should it come back, it’s expected only to get a limited run (how do you do a real-time 24 hours in less than 24 hours?). Should it return, the series would also bring back showrunner Howard Gordon, who left to do Homeland, which might leave Homeland with a vacancy. Personally, I don’t think that’s a bad thing: Homeland could stand to be a little less 24.

If it works, however, expect to see other networks attempting to bring back dormant series that featured actors that have fallen from grace since their series’ end. I would think Frasier, Everybody Love Raymond and, uh, Chuck would be possible candidates. Of course, I’m still waiting for the inevitable Alias reboot.

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I always thought that 24 would have worked better as an American Horror Story-like anthology. The first season would have been Jack Bauer being awesome and just ended where season one ended. Then pick up with the same actors in a different story line doing different things as different characters.

Ill watch it Jack Bauer is a boss. Also maybe they’ll bring back Nick Offerman as a racist redneck who beats up muslims and almost ruins everything. And Elisha Cuthbert. And I believe the show ended with Jack going on a suicide mission killing everyone in the Russian Government while wearing a Juggernaut suit, and then gets a pass from Madam President with the insistence of Freddie Prinze Jr.

I dunno man, season 2 got laughably bad even if Cuthbert was at peak hotness. Didn’t they solve the nuke threat about 2/3 of the way through and then spend the rest of the season tracking down a digital tape backup or something?

Season 3 is my favorite of them all, Jack kicked a heroin addiction in 6 hours. Superman!

I liked the show. Realism be damned. It was a fun little escape. Since I don’t know from cell phone tracking, etc., it was easy to suspend my disbelief and enjoy it. It was certainly better than “touch” where it was all hurried whispering from Keifer and his amnesia having social worker every week.